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Hayfever!

arkitect

arkitect

macrumors 604
Original poster
Sep 5, 2005
7,693
20,269
Bath, United Kingdom
"Summertime… and the living is (not so) easy…" :(

Like malevolent clockwork it starts every year. Last week of May into the first week or so of August.
A nose like a leaking gutter… Headaches from all the sneezing… Eyes streaming and itchy. Sleepless nights… (last night not one hour of sleep — and no, not caused by the excitement over WWDC)

Have tried just about every "remedy" known to mankind. Acrivistine seems to help longer but the Cetizirine seems to work faster — but all leaves me irritatable and very short-fused. :mad:
3 years ago got the Kenalog shots… boy! Talk about water retension! Must be the steroids…
So year before last started a course of acupuncture. Only effect that has had was severe reduction of bank balance. :rolleyes:
Feeding myself local honey — well, as local as you can get in London — and truth be told how much honey can one eat? Sigh…

The search goes on. Any remedies? :eek: :eek: *sniff*
 
With Weetabix, you can get through a jar of honey VERY happily :)

My curse cold sores....eugh!
 
samh004 said:
Whenever I have problems I take Piriton in Hong Kong.
Click to expand...

Wow! Now that is interesting. I lived in HK for 8 years as well as 2 years in Singapore and never had a season of Hayfever. :D I always thought it was because all the grass had been tarmaced over.
Mind you, going over to Lantau would sometimes bring on a mild attack.

Ah memories! :p :p
 
I have the same problem. Hate it. Thank God it's Winter over here.

I have found that tablets don't seem to do much for me - no real side effects - but no effects at all. I stick to topical things - nasal steroid sprays and eye drops work a treat. Doesn't do anything for itchy skin if I lie on grass, so I don't lie on grass.

Keep in mind the steroid nose sprays (eg Beconase in Australia, don't know what it's called over there) won't do anything for a few days so you've got to keep it up. Once it's working I just spray every other day.

Eye drops are great, sting a bit initially (which is nice when they are hella itchy) and then complete relief for the rest of the day. The best one I've found is antistine-privine. Again, maybe just as Aussie brand name.

Forgive me if the stuff you've said you've already tried are nose sprays or eye drops - so many medicines have different names over there, but they sound like tablets. I don't know why, they just do :rolleyes:

Oh BTW if I use the steroid nose sprays too much I get a blood nose. A bit annoying but at least I can breathe at night.
 
arkitect said:
Wow! Now that is interesting. I lived in HK for 8 years as well as 2 years in Singapore and never had a season of Hayfever. :D I always thought it was because all the grass had been tarmaced over.
Mind you, going over to Lantau would sometimes bring on a mild attack.

Ah memories! :p :p
Click to expand...

I use it for cat allergies and allergic reactions. Plus the pollution is really bad these days and can hit you hard sometimes.

alt75 said:
Keep in mind the steroid nose sprays (eg Beconase in Australia, don't know what it's called over there) won't do anything for a few days so you've got to keep it up. Once it's working I just spray every other day.
Click to expand...

Beconase is a good one to use, used that many times before.
 
I'm taking Benadryl. It certainly isn't completely getting rid of my hayfever, but it's making it at least slightly more tolerable.

For once I don't like living in the country! Gah. Darn all these flowers! :p
 
Yes. It's terrible up here too, theres always a breeze and there are probably a few times more trees than humans. And a whole load more grass.

It's annoying! I'm in the worst of it now. eye drops, nasal spray and of course the bullet in the gun - Mizollen. That absolutely knocks me out! But it does its job and acts as a great sleeping aid :D

This thread is a bit of an eye opener! I thought hayfever was limited to UK only, or at least had a different name abroad! See when I go abroad my hayfever just stops. dead. But I'm probably just affected by some UK only plant or whatever. I don't get the effects when I'm on the moors either. So I'm probably going there today.
 
I have every sympathy with you. It wasn't until I moved back down to the Thames Valley about 10 yrs ago that I started with it. Never had it before. According to my doctor the only thing left for me to do is move to the coast! I find that tablets don't appear to do a lot - Zirtek, Benedryl (current lot), and other 'strong' prescription ones seem to work up to a point. You could try Flixonase or Beconase, the nasel sprays - they seemed to work but unfortunately the steroids in them thin the lining of the nose and nosebleeds can result (as indeed they did - any time any place and when most inconvenient so gave up using in the end.) For eyes you could try Opticrom - available over the counter and has successfully worked (touch wood) every year I have used them. Stings a bit but soon calms the eyes down. At the risk of reducing the quality of responses on this forum, tissue paper up each nostril is the best way of dealing with the dripping nose - unsigthly but is does help stem the flow a bit.

It as interesting to read your comment about acupuncture as someone has just suggested that to me - might give it a miss as you seem to suggest that is was not successful.

If you find a wonder drug please post!
 
hogmog said:
If you find a wonder drug please post!
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Actually, I have found a wonder drug, I used to use it when I was at school...all those years ago... :eek: but they took it off the market in Australia - I think because the aerosol they used was no longer allowed here. So you might find it where you are.

It was called tobispray - another nasal spray but it was part steroid, part something amazing, it was a bit gross when you first used it (have lots of tissues handy because it really cleans you out!) but then could breathe easy.

Oh and hogmog - do try cutting down the steroids, as I do, to every other day, sometimes once a week if that still holds it - doesn't cause blood noses as much.
 
hogmog said:
At the risk of reducing the quality of responses on this forum, tissue paper up each nostril is the best way of dealing with the dripping nose - unsigthly but is does help stem the flow a bit.

It as interesting to read your comment about acupuncture as someone has just suggested that to me - might give it a miss as you seem to suggest that is was not successful.
Click to expand...

The acupuncture certainly raised my energy levels after every session — maybe they were stimulating the wrong points. :p

As far as the medications go — yup. Tried them all. And last night/this morning had the tissues stuck up each nostril. Literally had to change them every 10 minutes or so — never had such a continuous drizzle! Acck!

Yes, the damn steroids in everything is a concern. Trust me, over 30 and you don't want to mess with anything that effects your waistline. :mad: :eek:

Anyway, just knowing I am not alone makes me feel a bit better. ;)

Thanks to all for the help, suggestions and sympathy. :)
 
just bought some Cetirizine last week for the first time since my hayfever seems to get worse every year (but it's very regional different: around university i don't have any problems and at home it's a nightmare)
within like half an hour i was happily sitting around enjoying the afternoon thanks to our pharmaceutical overlords

i guess it really depends on which stuff you react allergically, me personally i mainly react to some gras pollens so it works fine
(and i'm biting myself in the ass not having bought it last year too)
 
I've been dealing with allergies for years. I started as a wee lad, taking half of my fathers pyrabenzamine tablets. As I've grown older, I've progressed through dimetapp, benadryl, claritin and now zyrtec (all American named drugs, YMMV). Currently, Zyrtec is the only thing that works for me, although on particularly bad days, I may add a benadryl to the mix. And of course, anti-histamine eye drops. But I only take the drugs as I need them now, normally at the beginning of spring and the beginning of autumn. Treatment options:

You should go to an allergist and get tested, find out if you're allergic year round of just seasonally. If year-round, he/she may give you immuno-therapy, which are weekly/monthly shots. Done right, the injections don't hurt, the needle is inserted between the muscles in your arm. I've had shots for years and I feel they have helped overall, as my symptons have lessened, while pollen counts have skyrocketed in recent years.

You should also attempt to control your environment. Air conditioning is a good idea. Also, keep a dust free home as much as possible. If necessary, wear a dust mask while cleaning, hoovering, and lawn mowing. A very common allergy is dust-mites. REPLACE YOUR PILLOW YEARLY!!!! Especially before allergy season. You don't want to know what lives in there.
 
I have horrible hayfever every year.

The only medicine that has ever worked is Arius. It's a miracle drug!
 
I swear by quercetin, it gets rid of all my allergy symptoms except the eye stuff (and nothing I have ever taken prescription or otherwise helps with that!).

In fact, the quercetin works so well, I stopped taking my prescription stuff.

It is a natural supplement/plant extract. I take 600 mg twice a day.

What do you people find helps for eyes? Mine are constantly scratchy/dry/itchy. I haven't tried any of the prescription eye drops. Do they need to be used frequently?
 
Mine was OK till I went out earlier this evening. It's awful now and I can't find any tablets that I may have stashed away. :mad:
 
I've not been too bad so far this year, and I'll be off for a week in Poland where I never get the faintest whiff of hayfever.
 
Another vote here for cetirizine. I used to take Chlortrimeton 12mg (Its effects last for 12 hours so that I'm not constantly popping pills) but its become impossible for me to find so I switched to cetirizine.

I live on a cattle ranch so we grow hay for winter fodder (which is bad for my allergies). Luckily I've mostly outgrown my allergies and asthma (they both left me in bad shape until I was 14 or so) so its less of a concern now.

I also learned that eating honey can help if you seek out honey that was gathered from close to your home so my eating the honey over the winter gathered from the beehives on our ranch helped boost my immunity to the pollen.
 
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